Balochistan, a Bangladesh in the making??

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20051230/world.htm#2

Balochistan, a Bangladesh in the making by Rajeev SharmaOn December 14, Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf visited Balochistan in his capacity as chief of the armed forces of Pakistan. The two places he visited — the capital of Balochistan, Quetta, and the oil and gas-rich Baloch-dominated township, Kohlu — made news for the wrong reasons. At both these places, assassination attempts were made on him.

Soon after the General’s visit, the Pakistan military forces launched yet another massive operation in Balochistan, targeted at the Marri tribes, who are up in arms against the denial of basic civic amenities even five decades after Pakistan was born. Helicopter gun ships and jet fighters are pounding what Islamabad terms as rebel positions in the area. There is a virtual blackout of news. Unofficial reports put the death toll at over 200. Reports speak of food shortages, spread of diseases, and non- supply of water and electricity in the ‘operations’ zone. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpo declared on December 27 that the government would not relent.

This is the fourth outbreak of violence, officially called rebellion, since the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Phrases like “national movement”, “azadi” and “injustice” are being liberally used by Baloch people. There are frequent references to the similarities between present-day Balochistan and pre-liberation Bangladesh. “Warnings from a Baloch leader similar to what my fellow Bengali journalists gave me in the late sixties of the situation in then East Pakistan now keep reverberating in my ears”, Shamsul Hasan wrote in ‘The Nation’ on December 23, 2005.